Wall Drug

The name Wall Drug strikes a familiar note of horror with anyone who's driven the interstate system west of the Appalachians or east of the Rockies with a back seat full of screaming children. "Mommy, Daddy, lookit the funny signs! Can we stop huh please huh can we just for a minute puh-leeeeeze?" Those who have been denied this experience may still have heard of Wall Drug if they've visited the North or South Poles, for even at the ends of the earth, Wall Drug has posted signs advertising the mileage to itself.

Wall Drug may be the roadside wonder best known to people who've never been to America. Paris Metro riders have seen Wall Drug signs. So have rail commuters in Kenya, bus passengers in London, and visitors to the Taj Mahal. Wall Drug spends thousands each year to maintain some of these signs, but most are the impromptu erections of former Wall Drug visitors. GI's from South Dakota put up signs in Germany, Korea and Vietnam. Every traveler who has stopped at Wall Drug in the past 60-odd years has been given a free Wall Drug sign, so that they might also join the vast Wall Drug self-promotion fraternity.

Wall Drug is a sprawling tourist mall that occupies the majority of downtown Wall, which used to be known by locals as "the geographical center of nowhere." That was before Ted Hustead came along.

Photo 647, Sept 2007